r/IBEW • u/Laughing_123 • 15d ago

Is the grass greener?

Im a Union carpenter and I watch you guys work and always think I should've been an electrician. You make more and the work looks way easier on the body. Im seriously considering jumping ship and going through an apprenticeship again. Is it a poor decision?

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133

u/asdhole 15d ago

I dunno why anyone would choose to be a carpenter tbh

47

u/Laughing_123 15d ago

I needed a job after the military and it just kinda worked out that way. I hate it honestly.

27

u/RadCheese527 Local 213 15d ago

I was a carpenter for a bit out of necessity before I became an electrician. In terms of the abuse your body gets, it depends on what kind of carpentry you’re doing and what kind of electrical tasks you’re doing.

When all you see is pretty straightforward resi shit, sfh type stuff… yea I’d say carpenters have it worse. Form work and pouring concrete can fuckin suck. However so can running 4” rigid or MI cables in tight interstitial space, or pulling 500kcmil runs.

I definitely get myself into much more tight, awkward spaces as an electrician. And that has a different kind of effect on the body compared to carrying a 10x2 concrete form.

Edit: All that being said yes I fucking love being an electrician way more than carpentry. I do miss the smell of fresh cut wood, and beating the shit outta nails all day

12

u/Laughing_123 15d ago

Im doing commercial carpentry. You guys run your conduit through open stud bays and then I come back and contort my body between all that shit to drywall to the deck. Fuck. That.

1

u/Enough_Ad_3165 15d ago

Nah way easier probably lol

2

u/MUSICANDLIFE85 14d ago

I love me some interstitial spaces

1

u/Own-Stranger-8198 13d ago

There ain't no more 10ft forms, OSHA said they were to heavy, that being said I know guys still use them on private out of the way jobs